Tag Archives: customers

Customers

8 Replies

Bear in the Garden

We had a customer last week who ordered some silver coins from us. The total came to about £250 and the postage and packing by a secure postal service was £12. He received them within 24 hours, and immediately contacted eBay to return them, writing later to say that he had ordered the coins by mistake, thinking that they weighed twice as much as they actually did. In other words, he thought we’d made a mistake and priced them at less than the price of silver. We hadn’t, but what we had done was write accurate details in the listing. If he’d read the details instead of becoming blinded by greed, he would have realised this.

Under eBay regulations, we have no defence. The customer mkay send them back, though eBay did make him pay for the return postage. We are currently refusing to refund his original postage as we don’t see why we should pay £12 for sending out exactly what was ordered. As it is, we will be out of pocket to the value of the time spent packing the original parcel and the time spent tracing the parcel at this end, as it originally went astray. eBay were telling us to refund him as the parcel had been delivered and we were telling them that it hadn’t. It was all the fault of the Post Office system, which is an excuse you may have heard before.

Some customers are lovely, some are efficient and many are a pleasure to deal with. This chap is none of the above. He, to borrow the style of P. G. Wodehouse is a veritable boil on the bottom of humanity.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Meanwhile, we have the “album man”. He ordered a stamp album off us and we sent it out. When it arrived, we have  a torrent of complaints. The postage was too much. The packaging wasn’t good enough. He nearly hadn’t ordered because the postage was too high. The parcel had been water damaged (though the album wasn’t affected) and the parcel was torn, though the album wasn’t damaged. He would like our comments, he said, before he gave us a score of zero for postage costs.

Now I don’t know about you, but if the cost of postage is too high, I simply don’t order the item. It’s the easiest way. I wouldn’t threaten someone with a zero score. It’s bad manners for one thing, and it is also what eBay calls Feedback Extortion, threatening poor feedback to get a refund. They frown on that. So do I.

Everybody thinks postage is too high. Everybody apart from the Post Office, who keeps putting it up. They have put it up so much recently that it’s becoming very hard for us to stay in business. On the other hand they are also finding things difficult.

And finally, the tearing and the water were beyond our control, but as we had packed the parcel properly (despite his comments) the album wasn’t damaged so there was really no problem.

Straw Bale Bowie Bear

I suggested a reply (customer service has ceased to mean so much now I am retiring) but was over-ruled. However, I feel that even Wodehouse himself, would have considered the man a blister of the first water and a pimple on the buttocks of the highest order.

These are just two of a dozen recent cases, though I admit that most of the others fall into the “I have a rare coin.” category. No you don’t.

The best ones, and I have had quite a few of them this week, have been conversations on the lines of –

“Er . . . (pause) . . . I was wondering if you could give me some advice.”

As they invariably ring when i am about to bite into a sandwich, write an address or put tape on a parcel, I just want them to get to the point . . .

Bear with pansies

“Yes.” I say.

“I have a rare coin. Do you value them.”

“Yes, what is it?”

“Er . . . I don’t know . . .”

At this point it’s always so tempting to say “If you don’t know what it is, how do you know it’s rare?”

Then, after an average of 3 – 8 minutes, depending on their eyesight and whether they actually have the coin to hand, we establish it’s a very ordinary coin.  The 1970s is not, as many people think, “the olden days”, eBay is not a reliable source of numismatic information and even Victorian coins are not rare – we were still using them when we went decimal and people bring them into the shop every week.

I don’t actually mind the enquiries, if you don’t know something it’s good to ask, but I do mind the total lack of preparation. At least find out what it is, or have it with you when you ring.

I’m now going to add some pictures of teddy bears. They are an antidote to the ills of modern life, and, unlike many of our customers, never ring up to stop me working with enquiries about “rare coins”.

Paddington Bear at St Paul’s

 

 

Just Another Saturday

17 Replies

Here’s what happened today. First, having suffered stiffening joints for a few days, I fell asleep in a draught  I just had to look that up. The spread of draft from America is making me doubt my own language.

I then woke up feeling like I was tied in a knot, went upstairs, realised I had left my phone downstairs (which also doubles as my alarm clock) and really didn’t feel like going back downstairs. So I didn’t. I just decided to wake up on time without a clock. After all, I wake up enough these days, how difficult can it be to wake up on time? With it being Saturday I can afford to get up a bit later and be a bit more flexible about time anyway.

It all went well to start with. I woke, as is normal, around 5.00 am. No, I haven’t suddenly developed industrious habits, I just have the bladder of an elderly man. As I generally sleep in two hour stints after my first waking, I was confident about waking on time. This is exactly what I did. At 7.20 my eyes clicked open, I checked my watch and gently creaked out of bed. That was the last thing that went right for some time.

With being stiff, everything seemed to take much longer than usual and it took me ages to get downstairs, which meant I was later than I wanted to be for work, which meant I couldn’t get a decent parking space . . .

Blah, blah, blah . . .

I had a number of interesting phone calls from people who had obviously given their carers the slip and gained access to a telephone. One was from a man who had just been reading a Jeffrey Archer novel. In it one of the plot points is that someone in the Royal Mint strikes some 2p bronze coins in silver. They are supposedly worth many thousands of Pounds and the man (and his wife, who joined the conversation halfway through) wanted to know how they would tell they had one and what did I know about them.

I know nothing about them apart from the fat they don’t exist. There are silver versions made in some years as a marketing exercise. There are a few known examples of 2p coins minted on cupro-nickel blanks where one has been left in the machine after making 10p coins. Some  make just over £1,000 and some don’t make that. Ignore the reference to “mule” in the newspaper article, a mule is a coin struck using two dies from different coins. I don’t think we have a specific name for one struck in the wrong metal, we just call them error coins.

He wouldn’t believe me that they don’t exist, His wife chipped in then, saying that she’s seen them on Google. I couldn’t find one when I looked. Meanwhile The Owner is telling me to stop wasting time and put the phone down. It ended with the gentleman telling me that he didn’t think Archer would write something that wasn’t true and me telling him that it was a work of fiction written by a man who was jailed for perjury so I didn’t think it was necessarily reliable. The conversation ended with me suggesting he contact the Royal Mint. He liked that idea.

Header is a picture Julia took while she was in town earlier today. Her life is much more interesting than mine. No, we don’t know why it ws there.

These are trees near the Mencap Garden.

Christmas Stamps

In the Post

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The day started with two emails from potential customers asking if items ordered today would be delivered by Christmas. I don’t know. I can, as I said, get them in the post today, but the rest is down to Royal Mail. They are generally very good, but if my life depended on them I’d be worried. They can, as recent events have shown, be erratic, and not very good at addressing complaints.

Last posting date for 2nd Class Mail is Monday 18th December, so in theory anything posted up until Monday will be delivered for Christmas. In most cases this will work, sometimes it doesn’t, and I don’t want an argument with a customer about whether I said they could have a parcel before Christmas. I don’t want to be the man who broke Christmas.

One of them ordered. The other didn’t. I hope it goes well. However, both items have been on eBay for months and there is no reason they could not hve ordered last week if time was important. I am, of course, too tactful to say this.

I got my Christmas cards in the post today, so I’m hoping they will be there before Christmas.

Stamps, stamps, stamps…

We also had a series of emails from a foreign gent, the penultimate one being “Why you not answer?” Well, I don’t know about you, but I pack up at the end of the day and do not spend the time between 7pm and 7am sending endless replies to a man who is making low offers on things. I merely said that we are happy to answer but he won’t get one after we close. As for his offers, when the owner is back tomorrow we will sort out a price.

That was about it. I am now home and have done my post for the day.

We had a package this morning. DHL was supposed to let us know when it was arriving. It did so at 07.14 this morning. I didn’t get the message as it was an email and I don’t do emails on the phone. At 07.28 there was a knock on the door, a relieved looking delivery driver.

“I’m glad you’re up,” he said, “I’ve been waking people up this morning.”

It’s an ever-present risk, I suppose, when you deliver at that time of day and only give 14 minutes warning. I’d been expecting it a day in advance so we could make arrangements to be in. I’m not fond of delivery companies.

Edward Lear Stamps (1988)

Customers and Caves

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We had feedback from a customer today. He said the book we sent was as good as new but that he thought the postage was expensive. It’s not worth answering, but it may be worth looking at the reality of the situation.

The book is new. It’s a priced catalogue of cigarette cards and there is normally a new one every year. We were quite clear that it is the 2023 catalogue, so why he would think it was going to be second hand I do not know.

Now, the postage. We charged him £3.99. The Post Office charges us £2.70. eBay charges us approximately 20% on top as they charge commission and payment fees. That means it has, so far, cost us 2.70 for stamps and 54p in fees. A padded envelope costs 20p. That’s £3.44. It leaves us with 55p to pack the envelope securely (there is a weak spot at the flap end where a book like this, if dropped by the delivery man, can get damaged). It happened once and we were accused of all sorts of shoddy packing by the recipient. We put an extra bit at that end to stop this happening. I’m paid about 18p a minute. In order for us to make a 1p profit on postage I would have to pack the parcel in three minutes. IT can’t be done. Once again, we make a small loss on postage and packing and are accused of overcharging.

It’s sometimes very difficult not to reply in a sarcastic manner, or to block them from further purchases.

And now I have that off my chest, I am going to have a cup of tea and watch Pointless.

Photos are more of Julia’s cave pictures.

 

Frogs, Coins, Stamps etc

14 Replies

Where to start?

The day was dull, though we did have a few customers, which makes a pleasant change. It was a stuffy day in the back room, and it was a relief to get out and breathe some fresh air at the end of the day.

We sold a few starter coins to a lad who came in with his grandparents. Then we sold a decent coin to a collector of Roman coins. Someone else spent a couple of pounds on a 50p piece and then someone rang to ask if we sold coins of James I, adding that they might be a bit too old for a local coin shop. “Condescending” was one of the words I used after the call ended.

That’s James I of England and James VI of Scotland. He deserted the dreary wastes of Scotland as soon as his cousin Elizabeth died in 1603, criticised smoking, hunted witches and eventually died in 1625.

The Roman coin we sold in the morning was a Hadrian denarius. Hadrian was emperor between  117 and 138 and ordered the building of the famous wall.

So yes, we do sell coins of James I, and no, it isn’t too early for us. We actually have earlier coins too.

To be fair, he did come to visit in the afternoon and bought one.

I’m constantly amazed at what constitutes “old” in the mind of some people. It’s all relative, I suppose. We’ve had people ring up about “old coins” that were actually decimal coins from the 1970s. One bloke actually started swearing at me when I told him that his 30-year-old football medallions weren’t really old in coin terms. We frequently find that “old coins” feature the portrait of George VI or George V. People just don’t realise that before we went decimal we had pockets full of coins dating back to Queen Victoria. As  a young collector in those days you could get back as far as the 1860s with a bit of work and some luck.

Young people these dys have only ever seen the Queen on coins. One actually asked if we thought her coins would be rare as they were withdrawn. Withdrawn, we asked? Seems he thought the Royal Mint was going to take all the Elizabeth II coins out of circulation and replaced them with coins of Charles III. He couldn’t quite grasp the fact that her coins will still be circulating in a hundred years.

Banknotes of Charles III aren’t expected until the middle of next year. There will be an eventual withdrawal of Elizabeth II banknotes as the replacement rate is higher with notes, as they wear out quicker than coins. Stamps are already on sale, but retailers have been instructed to use up stocks of Queen Elizabeth before selling the Charles III ones. So far I haven’t had a letter with one on.

The header picture is a frog Julia found in the MENCAP pond when cleaning it out. They also had newts, but they were blurred.

Stamps, stamps, stamps…

We have plenty of stamps to be going on with.

Wednesday Already!

6 Replies

Tuesday ws a bit of a drag, as days go, though Julia did make fish pie in the evening, which perked things up. I was supposed to make it but I fell asleep in front of TV so she let me sleep. She is a jewel amongst women, and very patient.

Highlight of Tuesday was that an eBay member wrote to us and told us that we had misdescribed something as silver when it was cupro-nickel, and that the certificate we had put with it, describing it as silver, was wrong. We always try to be accurate and most of the time we are. You don’t get 10,000 satisfied customers without being accurate. It’s always annoying to be told you are wrong, but even worse when you are right.

We sent him a picture of the hallmarks on the side of the medallion, proving that it was silver and that it was with the correct certificate. I’m not quite sure where he got his idea from. There are gold-plated cupro-nickel examples around (though I’ve never understood why they make them – why add gold plate to base metal?) but I’m not sure why he decided ours was one of them.

It was annoying, and it was time-consuming. However, we have amended the listing to remove any doubt and we have thanked him for taking the trouble to write to us, because we are nice people and we are professional.

Time to go now. My alarm just buzzed and I have to get to the doctor for my blood tests. Never a dull moment in my life!

 

Drawing a Line

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I just spent an hour writing a blog post. Just over 400 words detailing the irritation caused by two imperfect customers. It was entertaining, because I wrote at least 800 words and crafted it carefully, but it contained several elements that I’m not keen on in blogging. In my early days I used to write blogs I wasn’t always happy with, but now I try to avoid it.

It is not really fair to detail the shortcomings of others in a public forum, even if you do keep them anonymous. They probably don’t even realise how obnoxious they are.

 

Additionally, editors often say that poetry isn’t therapy. Blogging is relaxing for me, but it too, isn’t therapy and is no place to write about all my frustrations.

Finally, in writing memoirs, writers are cautioned about using them to get our own back on people from the past. It’s also true when writing about things like this. Revenge has no place in a blog.

I may vent my frustration when it comes to technology and poor service, but there is a line I try not to cross. I’m not sure where that line is, but when I cross it I seem to know. Do you have any lines like this? Or are you all nice people with no anger issues?

Only a half day tomorrow – the others are away at their bi-monthly banknote meeting. It really is a nuisance getting up and making sandwiches just for a half day. Additionally, finishing at 1.00 doesn’t give you much time to do anything in the afternoon. At least the owner hasn’t suggested that I should take it off as a half-day holiday as he once did. I used to open the shop on my own but we don’t do that anymore. If I were a cynic, I would say that it’s because he doesn’t want to come back at the end of the afternoon and help me close up.

But I’m not a cynic, so I won’t.

Tomorrow’s talk is on the banknotes issued by the provincial banks of Leicester and Rutland. It’s quite an interesting subject. They were issued in 17th, 18th and 19th centuries by private banking companies (the last provincial banknotes being issued by Fox, Fowler & Co of Wellington, Somerset, who lost the right to issue their own notes under the terms of the Bank Charter Act of `1844, when they were taken over by Lloyds Bank in 1921). To be honest, it’s always been a subject that has fascinated me since I learned about it in History at school, but never quite enough to persuade me to collect them.

So much to collect, so little time . . .

Grumbles and Guest Photos

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Red Boat at Southwold

The end of the month draws nearer. I have two submissions ready to go, though I actually had six planned. One of those passed on 25th, leaving just five. I really need to get a move on. It’s not this month I need to worry about, it’s the six for the months after that, and the six for the month after that . . .

It’s hard to believe that at one time I was sending my submissions off at the start of the month rather than letting it drag on until the end. The advantage I find with submitting for the end of the month is that you hear from the editors sooner.

In the shop we had no customers calling to buy and nobody coming to sell. Just three aging men muttering to each other and, in my case, answering vexatious telephone calls. It was a vintage day for phone calls. From callers on bad lines to callers who seemed determined not to give me any information (despite ringing me to ask bout their coins), to customers who has seen their 25p coin on eBay for £14,000, we had them all.

Southwold – Gun Hill

Finally, released from work and free to use the keyboard, I wrote most of my daily blog, went for tea, watched TV and fell asleep just before midnight. That is why I will be writing the minimum number of words and going to bed.

One thing we noted today was that things we put on new (such as a run of medallions) not only stimulate sales (we sold two of the new medallions within an hour) , but seem to have an effect on the sale of similar, older items. Three of todays sales were medallions that had been on sale for six months or more. There must be a PhD thesis in there somewhere.

The pictures today are all guest pictures from Julia, who took them during our recent trip to Norfolk, including an artistic bicycle shot, the red boat from Dunwich and the cannon from Southwold – site of the Battle of Sole Bay.

Southwold – Parked Bicycle and Atmospheric Clouds

 

After the Bank Holiday

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I’ve had a number of ideas about subject matter during the course of the day, and as I only need one or two ideas to fill my quota this post should be positively filled to the brim with words. They should be frothing over the top and running down the sides . . .

You can see what’s coming, can’t you? As soon as I look at that blank screen I lose all capacity to write. The same thing is now spreading to the kitchen. I feel hungry, but as soon as I open the fridge my ability to weave diverse wrinkly veg and surly-looking leftovers into a meal deserts me.

Hobbit Stamp

However, I will resist temptation to fulminate on the indignity of writers’ block and the related culinary problem. I may, on the other hand, talk about customers.

At 10.00 this morning, a customer rang. At 10.05 one walked into the shop. This established a pattern that carried on through the day. It took until 14.50 until we were able to finish all the parcels and get across to the post office. One brought in a handful of coins, all modern and circulated, and in two cases with other faults too (one with chemical stains and one with verdigris) having read the paper and convinced himself we would pay over £1,000 for them. One came in even though he knows he has to make an appointment as he always takes so much time. One made an appointment for Thursday then turned up today. Others came to sell, and all went away happy.

Mallard stamp

The telephone callers were mainly sensible today, though prolific and timewasting, but several on eBay were definitely contenders for an award. One of them wrote to say that he had ordered the items as discussed last week and looked forward to getting is postage refund. Unfortunately he hasn’t actually ordered anything. The man who asked if we would accept £50 for an un-named item still hasn’t answered my question asking which item he is talking about. There are others. There are always others . . .

A Quick Word on Packaging

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Having bought several thousand items on eBay over the years you would think I was quite good at it, wouldn’t you?

It seems I’m not. I did spot that several items that seemed cheap last night had serious deficiencies, which an honest seller would have noted in the box for reporting the condition. However, I bought a medallion last night which I didn’t think about too hard and just found, on paying for it, that the postage and packing is about twice what we would charge. And we, as we keep being told, charge too much.

It’s only  couple of pounds, but it goes to show that you need to be careful when buying.

One of my least favourite things happened last Saturday. Someone decided he could save money by sending us an envelope containing his own packaging. I haven’t seen that done for twenty years and thought it had died out.

If you want the postage and packing for nothing, come and pick the item up from the shop. I had a few people do that to me before, and they always send woefully inadequate packaging materials. last time it happened to me I wrote and said that I would use the materials provided but that it was at his risk. He wrote back demanding to know what I meant and I told him what I thought of his materials (bubble wrap with most of the bubbles already popped, and an ordinary envelope). He decided to argue his case and it went downhill from there.

The one that sent the stuff last week sent substandard packaging AND understamped the envelope. We added 20p of stamps and effectively paid him for the privilege of sending him his order. I’d have sent it back with the stamps as provided and let him pay the Post Office the £5 penalty charge. The others, being nicer to customers than I am, put the stamps on and posted it for him.

What these people don’t understand is that there is a cost to having a properly wrapped parcel.

However, I’ll leave it at that, as this could be a whole new rant and it’s the Numismatic Society tonight, so it’s now time to chat to Julia and have a cup of tea.